Danke Schwester!
My five days with Gen have come and gone. I took her to the airport yesterday morning, early. We have perfected the fine art of the quick, perfunctory hug when parting. The quick hug is much less painful than the long, tight hug, which invariably leads to a lot of crying and heartache.
Yes, we almost didn't hug when she left, we have gotten that good. Instead, I gave her the hug I would give someone I barely knew...from about 2-1/2' away and with one arm.
Regardless of the quick hug and suppresed emotions, I spent the rest of the day in a funk. It's so nice, when one is so far from home, to have another person around who loves me...because the few people who DO love me are either the same ones I see every day (Hans, Josiah, Annika, Will) or they live thousands of miles away! And it's not that I don't appreciate the love of my little family, because I do, very much--probably more because everyone else is on the other side of the world. It's just nice to have someone who really gets me, who shares the longest history with me, who makes me laugh like crazy, who will tell me if my pants are too tight or the wrong style...you know, sisterly things.
We jammed a lot into our five days: I picked her up from the airport and we headed directly to Ulm, where we climbed many (not all) of the steps at the muenster. There are 760 on a good day, but I think part of the tower was closed, because it sure didn't seem like that many (though my butt/thighs would argue otherwise the next day!). We paused for a quick shopping break in Ulm, then headed onwards to Neuschwanstein. I held my breath all the way, worrying that the castle would be hidden in the foggy/snowy weather, but it was quite visible. We trekked together all the way up the hill to the castle and did the tour, then trekked all the way back down.
Onwards to Garmisch. We actually stayed in Partenkirchen, in a hotel set over the Partnach Gorge. We had to ride a tiny cable car up to the hotel--that was quite a new experience. Because the hotel was rather inaccessible and far off from town, we had our traditional German supper at the hotel's restaurant...I can't recall what we had, but I know Gen had a big Dinkel-Acker beer. After supper, we pretty much crashed...Gen was down to fumes, definitely.
Next day, we had grand aspirations of taking the cable car to the top of the Zugspitze. The weather was better--partly sunny--but there was still a lot of haze and I knew that the view from up there wouldn't be the best. That coupled with the $40 ticket to ride the cable car led us to strike Zugspitze from our list. So...we went shopping and exploring around downtown Garmisch instead, then headed homeward. I'm so thankful that the weather was at least clear enough for Gen to get a good look at the mountains in Garmisch and Austria heading home.
Back to Stuttgart where Gen finally got to meet Will and got big hugs from the rest of the family. I think we finished up watching the miniseries that we were watching (BBC's North & South) and then hit the hay. Saturday we were lazier. We went to the Ritter Sport factory, located about half an hour away in the little town of Waldenbuch. We had lunch in their nice little cafe and then shopped in their huge store. Oh! They make chocolate at Ritter...I didn't mention that. We each bought about eight of their big blocks of chocolate in different varieties (my new favorite: strawberry yogurt).
Sunday we went to visit Schloss Hohenzollern. This was my second visit. The weather was overcast, so it was a little hard to see the castle from below (WHY did they have to build all their castles up high, sheesh!?). It was very cold and windy up there and we had Josiah and Annika with us. They did really well, except that Josiah announced to me 1.2 seconds after the tour began (and the door out was locked behind us) that he had to pee...so he spent the entire half-hour tour jiggling and grabbing himself...I guess it's a lesson learned for him. I was a good mother and asked him before the tour started.
Drove the long way home...Gen's like me and enjoys a good drive, maybe even getting a little bit lost. Hmmm, wonder who we inherited that trait from?
Monday, Hans had to work, so our options were a little more limited. We ended up going downtown to Stuttgart for the three hours that we had Josiah and Annika-free. Poked through some of the big German department stores on the Koenigstrasse. I bought socks. I know--wheeeee!!! But you would be surprised at how hard it is to find good socks at the PX, and it's not like I can just run over to Target and get some new ones. I was pretty excited! I also bought some pretty new unmentionables...it's been awhile since I treated myself to some fancy pants.
And Gen and I talked each other out of a bunch of stuff, which was good...
It was a quick visit, but I am so very, very thankful that she shared her time with me. I know that making this trip is not easy, nor is it cheap, nor is it easy when there are little ones at home.
Danke, schwester. Ich liebe dich. Tchuss!
Yes, we almost didn't hug when she left, we have gotten that good. Instead, I gave her the hug I would give someone I barely knew...from about 2-1/2' away and with one arm.
Regardless of the quick hug and suppresed emotions, I spent the rest of the day in a funk. It's so nice, when one is so far from home, to have another person around who loves me...because the few people who DO love me are either the same ones I see every day (Hans, Josiah, Annika, Will) or they live thousands of miles away! And it's not that I don't appreciate the love of my little family, because I do, very much--probably more because everyone else is on the other side of the world. It's just nice to have someone who really gets me, who shares the longest history with me, who makes me laugh like crazy, who will tell me if my pants are too tight or the wrong style...you know, sisterly things.
We jammed a lot into our five days: I picked her up from the airport and we headed directly to Ulm, where we climbed many (not all) of the steps at the muenster. There are 760 on a good day, but I think part of the tower was closed, because it sure didn't seem like that many (though my butt/thighs would argue otherwise the next day!). We paused for a quick shopping break in Ulm, then headed onwards to Neuschwanstein. I held my breath all the way, worrying that the castle would be hidden in the foggy/snowy weather, but it was quite visible. We trekked together all the way up the hill to the castle and did the tour, then trekked all the way back down.
Onwards to Garmisch. We actually stayed in Partenkirchen, in a hotel set over the Partnach Gorge. We had to ride a tiny cable car up to the hotel--that was quite a new experience. Because the hotel was rather inaccessible and far off from town, we had our traditional German supper at the hotel's restaurant...I can't recall what we had, but I know Gen had a big Dinkel-Acker beer. After supper, we pretty much crashed...Gen was down to fumes, definitely.
Next day, we had grand aspirations of taking the cable car to the top of the Zugspitze. The weather was better--partly sunny--but there was still a lot of haze and I knew that the view from up there wouldn't be the best. That coupled with the $40 ticket to ride the cable car led us to strike Zugspitze from our list. So...we went shopping and exploring around downtown Garmisch instead, then headed homeward. I'm so thankful that the weather was at least clear enough for Gen to get a good look at the mountains in Garmisch and Austria heading home.
Back to Stuttgart where Gen finally got to meet Will and got big hugs from the rest of the family. I think we finished up watching the miniseries that we were watching (BBC's North & South) and then hit the hay. Saturday we were lazier. We went to the Ritter Sport factory, located about half an hour away in the little town of Waldenbuch. We had lunch in their nice little cafe and then shopped in their huge store. Oh! They make chocolate at Ritter...I didn't mention that. We each bought about eight of their big blocks of chocolate in different varieties (my new favorite: strawberry yogurt).
Sunday we went to visit Schloss Hohenzollern. This was my second visit. The weather was overcast, so it was a little hard to see the castle from below (WHY did they have to build all their castles up high, sheesh!?). It was very cold and windy up there and we had Josiah and Annika with us. They did really well, except that Josiah announced to me 1.2 seconds after the tour began (and the door out was locked behind us) that he had to pee...so he spent the entire half-hour tour jiggling and grabbing himself...I guess it's a lesson learned for him. I was a good mother and asked him before the tour started.
Drove the long way home...Gen's like me and enjoys a good drive, maybe even getting a little bit lost. Hmmm, wonder who we inherited that trait from?
Monday, Hans had to work, so our options were a little more limited. We ended up going downtown to Stuttgart for the three hours that we had Josiah and Annika-free. Poked through some of the big German department stores on the Koenigstrasse. I bought socks. I know--wheeeee!!! But you would be surprised at how hard it is to find good socks at the PX, and it's not like I can just run over to Target and get some new ones. I was pretty excited! I also bought some pretty new unmentionables...it's been awhile since I treated myself to some fancy pants.
And Gen and I talked each other out of a bunch of stuff, which was good...
It was a quick visit, but I am so very, very thankful that she shared her time with me. I know that making this trip is not easy, nor is it cheap, nor is it easy when there are little ones at home.
Danke, schwester. Ich liebe dich. Tchuss!
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